Adger’s Career-High Helps Owls Snap Losing Streak to Middle Tennessee 63-56

Saturday, January 5

Murfreesboro, Tenn.

6:00 P.M.

Florida Atlantic

10-5, 1-1

Middle Tennessee

3-12, 0-2

Florida Atlantic

Middle Tennessee

Photo by: JC Ridley/Owlpix.com

Adger’s Career-High Helps Owls Snap Losing Streak to Middle Tennessee 63-56

1/5/2019 10:24:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - The Florida Atlantic University men's basketball team rallied from a 15-point first half deficit to defeat Middle Tennessee 63-56 on Saturday. The victory snapped the Owls' 12-game losing streak to Blue Raiders. Senior guard Anthony Adger had a career-high 33 points in the game.

The Start

The Owls (10-5, 1-1 Conference USA) struggled from the floor in the first half, missing several open layups in the early going. Middle Tennessee (3-12, 0-2) took advantage and used a 16-4 run to build a 27-12 lead with five and a half minutes left in the first half. An Adger three capped a FAU rally that trimmed the deficit to four, 29-25, just before the break. Antonio Green hit a triple of his own just before the buzzer pushed MT's lead back to seven at the intermission.

The Turning Point

FAU began the second half on an 11-1 run to go ahead 36-33. The Blue Raiders immediately responded with a 13-3 scoring spurt of their own to retake a seven-point edge, 46-39, at the 8:51 mark of the second half.

The Finish

Adger hit a jumper that kickstarted an 18-4 FAU run that lasted exactly eight minutes and gave the Owls a 57-50 advantage with 51 seconds left. Four different Owls scored during the rally. Adger went 6-for-6 from the free throw line during the final minute to help seal the win.

Notables

· Adger's 33 points was his 13^th double-digit scoring game of the season and eighth in a row. He is the first Owl to score 30 points in a game since Justin Massey on Dec. 2, 2017

· The win is FAU's first over Middle Tennessee since a 62-51 win on Jan. 27, 2011. A streak of 12 games

· Xavian Stapleton recorded eight points and four rebounds in his first action in nearly six weeks

· Defensively, the Owls forced a season-high 22 turnovers and committed a season low eight

· FAU won one of its first two conference games since the 2013-14 season.

Quotable

FAU Head Coach Dusty May

On the team's first half struggles…

"I don't know if I've ever been in a game where nothing was going right, we'd have two or three layups every possession and for whatever reason the ball just wasn't going in."

On Anthony Adger…

"He's diving on the floor, he's into the stands, he's playing hard defensively, he forced several turnovers…he made some big shots, he made some good post feeds to Karlis late and then obviously knocking down his free throws, going 12-of-13 from the line was huge."

Looking Ahead

FAU returns home to host Old Dominion on Thursday, Jan. 10. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. It will be Paradise Night at the Burrow. Live audio can be heard on ESPN 106.3 FM. The game will air on ESPN+. In-game updates will also be available at twitter.com/FAU_Hoops. For tickets, call the FAU Ticket Office at 1-866-FAU-OWLS or log on to fausports.com.